The Netherlands has picked Halina Reijn’s dark psychological thriller Instinct to be its contender for the 2020 Oscars in the international feature film category.

The film stars Game of Thrones’ Carice van Houten as a prison therapist who becomes obsessed with a convicted serial rapist, played by Marwan Kenzari (Jafar from Disney’s live-action Aladdin).

Instinct premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and will also screen in Toronto in the Contemporary World Cinema section. It is the directorial debut of Dutch actress Halina Reijn (Valkyrie, Black Book). A critical hit, the subtle psychological drama has been compared to the early work of fellow Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct).